memeorandum: INTEL OFFICIALS SEND LETTER TO DNI McCONNELL SEEKING (nsnetwork.org)

8:20 PM ET, February 26, 2008

Top Items:

Panetta's Lament: They Had No Plan — The argument that the constant carping about Hillary Clinton's campaign has been a function of an Obama-friendly, process-obsessed media is well and good. But how, then, to explain the deeply held dissatisfaction of an old Clinton loyalist like Leon Panetta?

Discussion: Talking Points Memo and Donklephant

Hillary Clinton / The Huffington Post:

Clinton Campaign Response To New York Times Rejected — The Clinton campaign is fighting back against a Sunday New York Times report by Patrick Healy that suggests her campaign is not only deteriorating, but that she is foreshadowing her exit through valedictory statements.

Discussion: New York Post, The New Republic, TalkLeft, Wake up America, Spin Cycle and Political Radar

Howard Fineman / MSNBC:

Hillary's last stand — Tonight's MSNBC debate is make or break for a candidacy on the brink — Sen. Hillary Clinton at the George Washington University Lisner Auditorium on February 25, 2008 in Washington, DC. — WASHINGTON - In many ways, tonight is Sen. Hillary Clinton's last stand.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, The Fix, TalkLeft and Washington Post

Dana Milbank / Washington Post:
Team Clinton: Down, and Out of Touch

Frank James / The Swamp:

McCain apologizes for radio host's Obama attack — I think we can safely say Bill “Willie” Cunningham, a conservative radio talk show host in Cincinnati, won't be showing up at any more rallies for Sen. John McCain. — It's never a good idea for someone who's sole job is to fire up the crowd …

Discussion: Liberal Values and American Street

Liz Sidoti / Associated Press:

McCain disavows comments about Obama — CINCINNATI - Republican John McCain quickly denounced the comments of a radio talk show host who while warming up a campaign crowd referred repeatedly to Barack Hussein Obama and called the Democratic presidential candidate a “hack, Chicago-style” politician.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Commentary and Daily Kos

Domenico Montanaro / MSNBC:

MCCAIN SUPPORTER PLAYS UP ‘HUSSEIN’ — From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell — CINCINNATI, Ohio — One of the speakers before McCain took the stage used some noteworthy language this morning. — Bill Cunningham, who I am told is a radio host here, repeatedly referred to Obama as Barack Hussein Obama — at least three times.

Discussion: The New Republic, Trailhead, The Caucus, Political Radar, Macsmind, Reason Magazine, Newsweek Blogs, Stop The ACLU and Riehl World View

Amanda Marcotte / Pandagon:

Gah … Yes, there is. If you think abortion and other forms of contraceptive birth control should be legal—i.e. that women should have the legal right to decide when they have children—you are pro-choice. Even if you still reserve the right to judge them for it.

Discussion: Eschaton, Shakespeare's Sister and Left in the West

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:
PRO-CHOICE....Via Atrios, I see that the once popular sport …

Discussion: Booman Tribune, TalkLeft and Done With Mirrors

Vincent Rossmeier / Salon:
How to turn white evangelicals into Democrats

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, The Mahablog and New York Times

Rowan Scarborough / Washington Times:

Military fears ‘unknown quantity’ — Members of Washington's military and defense establishment are expressing trepidation about Sen. Barack Obama, as the Illinois senator comes closer to winning the Democratic presidential nomination and leads in national polls to become commander in chief.

Discussion: Horses Mouth, Think Progress, Wonkette, The Carpetbagger Report, Gateway Pundit, Say Anything and Angry Bear

ABCNEWS: Obama, Paul net most military workers' campaign donations

Michael Asher / DailyTech:

Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling — A twelve-month long drop in world temperatures erases global warming — Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, The Corner, QandO, Wizbang, Daily Kos, The Sundries Shack, Doug Ross and Sister Toldjah

Abovethelaw.com:

Obama, BigLaw, and Taxes(Or: Obama = $34,000 Paycut) — [Ed. note: Today we bring you some “news you can use”: a practical look at how political choices might affect your personal finances. This post is by Ted Frank, who blogs at Overlawyered.com and PointofLaw.com, and who has guest edited ATL in the past.

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Say Anything, Blue Crab Boulevard, The Campaign Spot and StephenBainbridge.com

David M. Brown / PittsburghLIVE.com:

Film's casting call wants that ‘inbred’ look — TRIBUNE-REVIEW — A movie about to be filmed in Pittsburgh is casting Gothic characters — including an albino-like girl and deformed people — to depict West Virginia mountain people. — “'Regular-looking” children need not apply.

Discussion: No More Mister Nice Blog, The Jawa Report, LIBERTAS and Don Surber

Peter S. Canellos / Boston Globe:

Just don't call Barack Obama liberal, okey doke? — Senator Barack Obama during a rally yesterday at the Cincinnati Museum Center. Obama seems to have calculated that labels can be distracting in a presidential campaign. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press) — AUSTIN, Texas …

Discussion: The Campaign Spot and The Rachel Maddow Show

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

The Abrams Report: Bush League Justice on Siegelman — All the publicity that the Don Siegelman case has brought in the last couple of days has made the rats in the Alabama Republican party scurrying to find the safety of darkness again. Led by chief rat Karl Rove, the modus operandi is to deny, deny, deny.

Discussion: HorsesAss.Org and BuzzFlash.org

Paul Kiel / Muckraker:
Rove: “It's A Lie”

Discussion: The BRAD BLOG, Hot Potato Mash, BuzzFlash.org, Political Machine and Hullabaloo

nsnetwork.org:

INTEL OFFICIALS SEND LETTER TO DNI McCONNELL SEEKING — CLARITY ON FISA, TELECOM IMMUNITY … Washington, D.C.-Yesterday, four former senior level intelligence officials, all of whom have worked with Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell in the past, sent a letter …

Discussion: MoJoBlog, Salon, Firedoglake, Crooks and Liars, The Gavel and The Impolitic

Martin Kady II / The Politico:

‘A bullet right in the hearts of our troops’ — In the war of words over Iraq, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) may want this one back. — Speaking about a Democratic proposal to force Iraq troop withdrawal within 120 days, Hutchison said Tuesday that such a proposal would …

Discussion: Daily Kos and AMERICAblog

Sweetness & Light:

Another Photo Of Obama In Muslim Garb? — Here we go again. Maybe. — This is an undated and un-captioned photograph that appears on the (highly partisan) website “Freedom's Enemies”: … And, if it is real, it is once again from the Associated Press.

Discussion: Say Anything, A Blog For All, Hot Air and JammieWearingFool

Abbie Ruzicka / media.www.dailyfreepress.com:

To accommodate Muslim students, Harvard tries women-only gym hours — Harvard University has moved to make Muslim women more comfortable in the gym by instituting women-only access times six hours a week to accommodate religious customs that make it difficult for some students to work out in the presence of men.

Discussion: The Corner, Commentary and The Belmont Club